- Debasish Das: Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Kolkata.
- Prabuddha Mukhopadhyay: Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Kolkata.
- Debtanu Banerjee: Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Kolkata.
Remdesivir and Baricitinib have recently been approved by FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia. However, there is limited research work available to assess their beneficial effects.
MATERIAL: We conducted retrospective study comparing remdesivir and baricitinib-remdesivir combination therapy in hospitalized adults with moderate to severe Covid-19. All the patients received remdesivir for 5 days and one subgroup had received baricitinib (≤14 days) along with remdesivir. The decision to administer remdesivir only or remdesivir along with baricitinib was the treating clinician's discretion. The primary outcome was to assess the 28-day mortality.
OBSERVATION: A total of 50 patients with moderate or severe COVID-19 pneumonia had received either remdesivir alone or both remdesivir and baricinitib during the duration of 1st April 2021 to 30th June 2021in our hospital. The 28-day mortality was 9.091% in the combination group and 14.29% in the remdesivir only group (risk difference= -5.195%, risk ratio for death=0.3634; 95% CI, 0.1281, 3.161; p=0. 0.3086). Patients who had a FiO2 requirement of 100% at any point of time had 100% mortality, irrespective of the drug received.
CONCLUSION: Baricitinib and remdesivir combination was superior to remdesivir alone in reducing 28-day mortality among patients with moderate to severe Covid-19, although this difference was statistically insignificant.